The woman was classic sex goddess. Tall, strong, curvy, soft in the right places and a wickedly creative lover. He didn’t care what size she wore as long as she was healthy and happy.
“You know what?” he teased playfully. “I think it’s time we shook up the tally board with something new.”
God, he knew her so well. Right away she went from boo-hoo to flirty.
“Seriously?” she hooted. “Shut up!” Her dazzling smile got the reaction it always did when his dick twitched.
Knowing his role in this spirited banter quite well, he used his dom-smirk—so named because she thought it was a fucking hilarious term—and crossed his arms.
“There’s nothing in the pregnancy guidebook that says you can’t be spanked, my love.”
She stopped their mirror conversation and whirled around. He saw the frisky glimmer in her eyes and relaxed now that the tightness around her mouth was gone.
“Well thank goodness, huh?” When she swatted his bare chest and let her fingers linger, he took her hand and kept things light. He knew damn well it wouldn’t take much to drop her where they stood and indulge in more passionate love-making. Tempting as the thought was, his priority was keeping her calm and getting some food into her while he did some fast delving into morning sickness and what he could do to make things easier.
“New rule, I think,” he drawled. Kissing her hand, he held it against his chest and grinned. “You are not fat to begin with so giving life to our babies is not going to make you fatter.”
“Twins, Alex,” she muttered.
“Exactly,” he countered. “Big job. Requires a strong woman. Sounds like you, Double M.”
She smiled but it didn’t feel genuine.
“Look,” he said. “When I thought I’d never walk again, a physical therapist told me I was weighing myself down with fear of the unknown. He was right. The worry and nagging what ifs drove me crazy and made it harder to focus on regaining my strength. I don’t want that for you, baby. There’s enough to worry over without adding a bunch of nonsense about weight. So here’s what we’re going to do.”
“Oh god. You’re using that Major tone. Should I salute and stand at attention?”
“This isn’t the Sound of Music and no, I won’t be using a whistle to gather the family for inspection.”
The genuine was returning to her smile.
“For the duration,” he announced as though detailing a crucial mission to his men, “there will be no use of the word fat. Not in the context of you, your sexy-as-fuck body or when referring to the pregnancy.”
“Or what?”
Sometimes, her unbridled passions made his job too easy.
“Every time you say you’re fat, or are going to be fat, or are somehow unattractive because you’re pregnant, I will add two swats on the tally board.”
“Only two?” Her naughty simper challenged him big time.
“Yes, wife. Only two. Because fat spanks are not meant to be fun. I don’t like the term and you know it. The implication makes me furious. So to help make the point, fat spanks will employ equipment. A tool of some kind. Maybe I’ll ask Drae to make me some paddles.”
“If you do, the floor is where you’ll be sleeping.”
He smirked. She was easy to rile up too. As if he’d give that idiot St. John a made-to-order opportunity to yank his chain in perpetuity! Not gonna happen.
She smiled. It was a soft, sighing smile. “I know what you’re doing.”
He didn’t doubt it for a second. That’s why his plan was so genius. He knew some of her chain yanking with the fat things was his wife’s way of messing with him. But he also remembered what Tori went through when she was pregnant with Daniel. The little woman got huge. Twins made the probability of Meghan also getting huge a real possibility. He didn’t want body-image worries to complicate things. By changing their sexy tally game into something that resembled a punishment, he was drawing a line in the sand. To please him she’d make an honest effort not to let those thoughts create shadows in her happiness.
“You are the most beautiful woman in the world, my love. I’m…” he searched for a good word, “honored that my babies are inside you. I’m not blind to the challenges you’ll face, Meghan. But for me? Watching your body change, knowing every change nurtures our family, well, it’s deeply humbling. I want you to cherish this time, not worry about superficial shit.”
He shrugged and ran his hands up and won her arms. “If that means a taste of discipline as a reminder to stay the fuck away from negative thoughts, then so be it.”
“You’re a very wise man,” she murmured after a long, thoughtful silence. “I can see why the military promoted you despite your best efforts to convince them otherwise.”
“This isn’t about control, Meghan. I’m not trying to take away your free will.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her face on his chest. “I know. Call it behavior modification or whatever. You’re right. We must cherish every second of this time. Thank god I have you beside me.”
Her lips pressed against his skin.
She didn’t know it, though he tried to explain a million times, that it was his great pleasure to be her guide and that the role was one they shared. Meghan was a natural teacher. It was in her spirit. For everything small thing she taught him, he gave back tenfold in the dedication he put into being the man she needed him to be.
“Alex?”
“Hmm?”
“I think you need to feed me. My stomach’s rumbling again but this time it feels like hunger.”
Hot damn! Something to do. Hugging her tight, he kissed her forehead, whirled her around and gave her sweet ass a grabby swat. “Get dressed, wife, and meet me in the kitchen. I have a breakfast to make!”
Paging through a magazine as Alex put on a kitchen performance worthy of Food TV, Meghan dog-earred another page. This one was for a portable sound system, a Bose like the one Lacey had, the perfect idea for a Christmas present.
Reaching into a basket on the island, she grabbed a small avocado, gave it a little squeeze to see if it was ready to eat, and then slid from her stool. He was rambling on but she honestly had no idea about what.
“It’s going to be way cool when it’s finished.”
Was he talking about Calder and Stephanie’s cottage cabin?
Taking a knife and a spoon from a drawer, she got back on her stool and mumbled, “I don’t see why you won’t let me go see. It’s not like there’s some big top secret thing going on out there on the back road.”
“Go see what?” he asked. “I was talking about a small space drone for NASA. What were you speaking of?”
“Oh,” she sniggered with a headshake. “Sorry. I was daydreaming. Somehow I ended up at the cottage. Is that where Calder and Stephanie are? I never see them around here anymore. And where the hell is Carmen?”
She sliced open the avocado with practiced efficiency, twisted out the big seed, pushed half the fruit aside and got ready to dig into the other half.
“Good question,” he smirked.
They both looked around the kitchen at the same time and laughed. He’d made a holy mess and so far all he’d managed to do was start coffee, mix a bowl of waffle batter and dig a bowl of potatoes from the fridge to microwave.
Taking a big spoonful of the delicious green fruit, she treated the creamy slab like she would ice cream, licking the spoon and moaning with delight. She’d been a take-it-or-leave-it girl with avocados until recently. Now, she ate one every day. Usually by itself.
Zeus sped into the kitchen, saw Alex and did her usual tail wagging routine. And as per his usual, her husband became a boy again and dropped to one knee for a round of man-dog goofing around.
Right on the dog’s heel, Carmen appeared looking a bit flustered and rough around the edges. Not used to seeing her anything but cool, calm and collected, Meghan ate her avocado and studied this new development.
Instead of her standard garb of a skirt
and blouse, today Carmen wore a pair of brightly patterned Fabletics leggings. She knew this because she had the same ones. For a top she wore a long t-shirt tied into a knot on one hip. She looked like the advertisement for a senior yoga class.
“Sorry,” she muttered. “See to your wife Alexander and I will finish breakfast.”
Meghan didn’t have to react or ask any questions. She wouldn’t need to. Alex would take care of it all by himself so she crossed her legs, sat back in the stool, ate her avocado and watched the scene playing out in front of her.
“Nice outfit, Mrs. Delgado. You training for something?”
The slight hesitation Carmen gave before answering struck her as interesting.
“The dance instructor from the family center,” she said way too brightly with a glance at Meghan. “Ingrid. She’s um, she’s teaching Duke and I how to do the Tai Chi.”
Aww! This was getting so good. Meghan took great pains not to snicker or laugh. She was aware that Duke knew Ingrid because he was the one who recommended her for the position at the Double M. What made the connection delightfully juicy was the idea of the flamboyant movement instructor impressing some of her unique qualities on Carmen. The notion of a bombastic Spanish Isadora Duncan rattling her Major’s chain was delightfully funny.
Alex, who was perfectly man-blivious, didn’t follow the clue about Duke. And men were the ones everyone turned to when it was time to figure stuff out? Yikes.
“Tai Cheese. Isn’t that just like yoga? It is, right?” he asked.
“Tai CHEE, Mr. Alex,” Carmen enunciated, having taken his sardonic bait. “Not cheese.”
He looked to her and winked, then returned to needling the poor woman. “Ohhh. High Chi.”
Exasperated, Carmen snapped the lid shut on the waffle maker and looked at Alex as if he had some screws loose.
“Tai. Like that thing you wear around your neck. Get it? Tie.”
He snickered and nodded soberly at the same time. “Got it.”
“And cheeeeeee.” The way she drew out the last word was pure Carmen. “Tai chi.”
Alex stayed true to form and bussed her on the cheek with a good natured kiss. “So, yoga then.”
Meghan cracked up laughing when Carmen stared at him slack jawed.
“You two need to take that act on the road,” she told them.
Shaking her head and muttering, Carmen shooed them to the breakfast nook and started loading the table up with food. Now that she’d woofed down half an avocado she wasn’t as hungry but Meghan knew it’d start a battle royale if she claimed to be full so she quickly put a piece of toast on her plate and got busy fussing with a pot of preserve.
Alex was working on his second helping of waffles, after downing a pile of bacon the size of a book, when his phone rang. He pulled it from a pocket and glanced at the screen. Without saying anything, he connected the call.
“Uh, hello?”
A long pause followed.
“Excuse me, sir?”
Another shorter pause and then he stood up so fast, the table almost toppled over.
“What?”
About to munch on some bacon her hand stopped in midair. Meghan froze at the sound of panic in her husband’s voice.
“No problem, sir. Sorry for the uh, confusion. Just give me a minute, okay?”
What the hell was going on?
He disconnected the call, muttered a very terse, “Fuck,” stepped away from the table and tapped on his phone.
“Who’s this?” he barked when his call went through. A second later he followed up with a fiercer bark. “Why the fuck didn’t you call me right away? Do you understand who you’re dealing with?”
She flinched from his aggressive tone and glanced sideways at a startled looking Carmen.
“He’s on the fucking clearance list! I added him myself so don’t act like you were just being diligent.”
Meghan was so shaken up when he ended the call that she had trouble asking what was up.
“Your father’s here,” he muttered.
“What?”
Carmen gasped but said nothing.
“Your father. He’s coming up the drive in a cab.”
“Who?”
She couldn’t wrap any part of her mind around what he was saying.
“Meghan. I’m not shitting you, babe. Patrick O’Brien is in a cab and is on his way to the front door.”
“Madre de dios,” Carmen muttered.
“Yeah, no shit,” Alex responded.
Confused and suddenly worried she asked, “Is everything alright? What’s he doing here?”
“I think we’re about to find out. You stay put, honey,” he said with a gentle kiss. “I’ll meet him out front.”
What could she say? Nothing. So she watched silently while Carmen ran around the kitchen like a crazy person cleaning up their breakfast mess.
Her Da showing up unannounced less than twenty-four hours after the twins’ revelation couldn’t be for no good reason.
Now what?
26
“It’s good to see you, son,” his father-in-law exclaimed as he bounded up the stairs to the front door.
“Paddy, um...Dad. This is a surprise.”
The warm, genuine hug and handshake they shared took a huge load off his mind. Whatever brought Meghan’s father twenty-five hundred miles from a cold, damp New England autumn to warm and sunny Arizona didn’t involve Alex somehow being a dick.
“How’s my Meggie?” Paddy asked. “That was some surprise you two had for us yesterday.”
“We were surprised too, and she’s fine sir. Wondering why you’re here, but fine.”
The shrewd, assessing eyes of his wife’s father bore into him. “My only daughter is having twins. Where else would I be?”
Fuck my life, he thought because that was an ‘Oh, snap’ moment. Remember who the hell you’re talking to you dumb shit, his inner voice scoffed.
“Sorry, sir. I just meant…it’s not like Bendover is around the corner from Boston. And you didn’t give any warning. You do know, I hope, that anytime you want to visit I’d be happy to send Captain Sawyer and the plane.”
Pfft, Paddy grunted. “Waste it’d be. An empty plane flying half way across the continent so I can hitch a ride.”
He was quick to set him straight. “We never fly an empty leg. Sawyer has us hooked up with an air expedite agency. Military stuff, Make-A-Wish trips, medical transport. However we can help.”
They looked at each other. Patrick O’Brien knew all about service and the importance of looking out for his fellow man. Alex sincerely hoped the light shining in his father-in-law’s eyes was one of approval and respect. It still surprised him how much he needed this man’s acceptance.
The conversation shifted back to the reason for this visit.
“My Maggie had an Irish conniption after hearing about the twins. Started whinging on and on about the family splitting up. First Meggie, then Finn. What was I supposed to do?” he exclaimed. His face twisted into a sad scowl. “Came to make things right with my son and make sure my baby girl is being taken care of properly.”
This impromptu visit was beginning to make sense.
“You’re on your own with Finn,” he drawled. “But Meghan is another thing altogether. You’ll see she’s better than fine.”
He led the way into the house but stopped mid-way through the foyer. “Um, Dad. Don’t say anything about the chapel, okay? She still doesn’t know. With the grand opening of the family center coming up and being pregnant, she had enough on her plate.”
Paddy nodded and slapped him on the back signaling his understanding.
“Oh, and whatever you do, don’t get sucked into any of her ‘being pregnant is gonna make me fat’ bullshit.”
His father-in-law’s deep chuckle had an amused lilt to it. “My boy, I’ve been down this road four times. Learned the hard way with Deval that no matter what the expecting wife says, a smart husband assures her that she’s thin and radi
ant.”
“Da?”
Meghan’s voice called from the kitchen.
Zeus came flying out of the kitchen and ran up to Paddy. “Hey girl,” he laughed. Giving her a vigorous head rub, he nodded toward the kitchen and spoke to the lab like she was an old friend. “You keeping an eye on my girl?” Zeus woofed real low and licked Paddy’s hand.
When he caught his father-in-law’s eyes, Paddy shrugged off Alex’s surprise. “We got to know each other when me and Maggie visited with your parents.”
What the fuck else went on under his roof that he didn’t know about? Jesus. This was getting ridiculous. Carmen and Duke. Right under his goddamn nose. And now Paddy having hang time with his dog that Alex knew nothing about. Anything else?
The dog forgotten, the other man hurried to the kitchen, cried, “Meggie!” and rushed forward to wrap his only daughter in a fierce hug.
Alex wondered if he’d be that way with a daughter should God so choose to give them one. Hold on a minute. Did he just invoke a higher power? He looked upon his happy wife with complete adoration. She was changing him in the best of ways.
He sharked around the kitchen to let them have some time—noted that Carmen ran for the hills—and busied himself with the coffee pot. Remembering how Paddy liked his, he kept half an eye on Meghan and her dad while he made two cups of strong black brew.
“Here you go, Dad,” he murmured when he joined them at the small table. “Fair warning—that’s in no way decaf.”
“What about me?” his wife pouted when he sat his mug down.
It wouldn’t matter if she’d previously hated coffee. Once she knew what she couldn’t have while pregnant, she took every opportunity to remind him of the restrictions.
Reaching behind his back he produced a bottle of her favorite coconut water from his pocket, cracked the lid and smiled while placing it directly in front of her.
“Well played, son! Bravo!”
Unforgettable (Family Justice Book 5) Page 31